The mating of male and female terminals is a commonplace occurrence. This type of mating is an easy, cost effective way of providing a means to make an electrical connection between various electrical components. However, this interconnection between the male and female terminals can be unreliable, thereby causing the failure of an entire connector.
The unreliability of the electrical connection between the terminals occurs for several reasons. When terminals are provided in connector housings, the spacing of the connectors is not always accurately controlled. In particular, the cumulative manufacturing tolerance of the terminals can cause problems when respective connectors are mated together, i.e., the centerline of a respective terminal may not coincide with the center line of the mating terminal due to the tolerances of manufacture. Therefore, as the terminals are mated together, it is conceivable that the misalignment, due to the cumulative tolerance limits, can prevent the male terminal from entering the female terminal. In the alternative, if the misalignment between the respective terminals is not great, the insertion will cause the male terminal to rub against a respective side of the female terminal. This is unacceptable, particularly over a period of several cycles in which the terminals are inserted and removed. Over the span of several cycles even slight misalignment will cause uneven wear of the terminals, resulting in a failure of the electrical connection. The same problems arise if the terminals are bent.
The type of problems described above are particularly prevalent when connectors are inserted and removed many times over a period of time. The problem is magnified when blind mating of connectors is required. When blind mating occurs, the operator cannot see the terminals to insure their accurate alignment with respect to each other. Consequently, when blind mating occurs it is quite possible that male terminals will be stubbed on female terminal, causing male terminal to bend, which in turn causes the same problems described above.
Therefore, it is extremely beneficial to provide a connector which has terminals which can compensate for the misalignment and bending of the terminals of the mating connector. Such a connector insures that a positive electrical connection will be made each and every time insertion occurs.